A contract worker has died following an incident at Rio Tinto’s SimFer mine site in Nzérékoré, Guinea on February 14.
Work and activity at the SimFer mine site has been suspended and support is being provided to impacted team members.
Rio Tinto did not provide further details about the incident.
Rio Tinto CEO Simon Trott said he will travel to Guinea this week and extended his condolences to the family and friends of the employee.
“Nothing is more important than the safety of everyone who works with us. We are determined to learn from this incident and to do everything we can to provide the safest possible workplace and prevent tragedies like this from happening,” the CEO said.
The miner is working with relevant authorities and contractors for a thorough investigation into the incident and to prevent any reoccurrences.
The SimFer site is located in the Simandou project, Africa’s largest mining and related infrastructure project.
Simandou is divided into 4 blocks. Rio Tinto holds rights to blocks 3 and 4 through Rio Tinto SimFer, a joint venture with the Government of Guinea and Chalco Iron Ore Holdings (CIOH). These blocks contain ore reserves estimated at around 1.5 billion tonnes.
Rio Tinto had reported two additional fatalities at the mine site since October 2024.
